KIRKUS REVIEW

So many choices in a seemingly
simple day!

“What will Danny wear today?”
Colorful socks pour out of his dresser, and the open wardrobe offers a rainbow
of colors and patterns and styles. And so goes the day. Every double-page
spread of options is dense with lively figures and raucous color. Will the
brown-haired white boy choose a “crunchy, chewy, or wobbly” breakfast? What
will he drink? He can pedal, skip, walk, ride, or zip to school, and what will
he learn there? Painting…playing the piano...rocket building? Who will teach
Danny today: the turbaned Sikh, the green ET with five eyes, Shakespeare?
During physical education, will he “run, jump, or hit balls?” And at recess,
“slide, swing, or seesaw?” What will he do for his after-school art activity? What
will he do with his dad after that? At the end of the long day, which book will
he choose? And here the book at last provides an answer: the very one readers
are holding! Goodhart presents copious choices but (except for the end) never
reveals what Danny has chosen. The cover’s claim that readers get to “decide”
what Danny does is plain false. But Usher’s shaggy, busy illustrations,
bristling with visual foolishness and populated by a multiracial cast, are a
delight.

Readers will love the illustrations,
but they might also feel cheated by the premise—disappointing. (Picture
book. 3-5)

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